Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is staying busy before he returns to DC this fall for his 19th career season in the NHL. The Great Eight has already committed to hopping back onto the ice for Danis Zaripov’s farewell game on August 9 and it’s now been announced that he’ll lace up his skates again three days after that to play in a game on the final day of the Ovechkin Cup.

The Ovechkin Cup, established in 2018, is a week-long, youth hockey tournament competed in by teams from all across Russia at Vladimir Petrov Arena in Krasnogorsk. Ovi’s participation on the ice for team “Hockey Legends” was announced by Moscow’s Ministry of Sports on their social media channels. The team, including other Russian legends like Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Alexander Mogilny, will be taking on a team of “sports bloggers” to close out the week.

The preliminary stages of the tournament will run from August 7 through August 11 with the Finals and Ovechkin’s game occurring on August 12. The 12 teams competing will be made up of kids from the leading hockey schools and academies in the country all from the 2011 age group.

“More than (five) years ago, the idea to organize this tournament arose, and we hold it every year,” Ovechkin said per his Ovi Cup Instagram page. “We see that all the guys want to win, we watch interesting hockey, everyone moves and plays well. It’s great.”

Ovechkin’s alma mater Dynamo is participating as well as SKA-Strelna, Traktor, CSKA, Salavat Yulaev, Avangard, Ak Bars, Lokomotiv-2004, Spartak, Vityaz, Balashikha, and Atlant.

Ovi got a head start on taking in some youth hockey as he donned a Capitals tracksuit and did a little coaching on Thursday.

The week’s on-ice action will coincide with Ovechkin’s eSports hockey tournament which has a prize pool of one million rubles. The final of that tournament will also happen on August 12 and will take place inside the arena. The finalists will win cash prizes and also get to play video games with Ovechkin.

Ovechkin, a widely known lover of gaming, has gotten involved in the eSports business in recent years.

Last summer, he took part in a tournament playing NHL 22 on PlayStation 5.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB